Technology Transfer Network / NAAQS
Ozone Implementation
Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
Federal Register Document
[Federal Register: December 16, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 241)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 70317-70319]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16de99-21]
[[Page 70317]]
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Part II
Environmental Protection Agency
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40 CFR Part 52
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; One-Hour Ozone
Attainment Demonstration for Various State's Ozone Nonattainment Areas;
Proposed Rules
[[Page 70318]]
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[FRL-6501-7]
Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the
One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed actions.
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SUMMARY: This document announces that, elsewhere in today's Federal
Register, EPA is proposing individually to approve or conditionally
approve, and, in the alternative, to disapprove attainment
demonstration State implementation plans (SIPs or plans) for ten areas
in the eastern United States that are not in attainment of the 1-hour
health and welfare-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS
or standard) for ground-level ozone. These areas are designated as
nonattainment for the ozone standard. The SIP demonstrations were
prepared and forwarded to EPA from States and the District of Columbia
(D.C.) where the nonattainment areas are located. They were submitted
to meet the requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The
nonattainment areas on which EPA is proposing action are listed in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section according to the EPA Regional Office
in which they are located.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General questions concerning this
document should be directed to Sharon Reinders, (919) 541-5284. Your
comments or questions about a specific area should be directed to the
EPA Regional Office representative identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY
section. Information on how to contact the Regional Office appears in
the document for each individual area.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nonattainment areas on which EPA is
proposing action are listed in the following according to the EPA
Regional Office in which they are located:
Region I--Greater Connecticut (CT)
The Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long
Island area Springfield (Western Massachusetts) (MA).
Region II--New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-CT)
The New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton area.
Region III--Baltimore (MD)
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton (PA-NJ-DE-MD) Metropolitan
Washington (DC-MD-VA).
Region IV--Atlanta (GA)
Region V--Milwaukee-Racine (WI)
Chicago-Gary-Lake County (IL-IN).
Region VI--Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (TX)
Your comments or questions about a specific area should be directed
to the EPA Regional Office representative identified as follows:
Regional Offices
Region I--Richard Burkhart (617) 918-1664,
Region II--Paul Truchan (212) 637-4249 or Kirk Wieber (212) 637-3381,
Region III--Dave Arnold (215) 814-2172,
Region IV--Scott Martin (404) 562-9036,
Region V--Edward Doty (312) 886-6057 or Michael Leslie (312) 353-6680,
Region VI--Guy Donaldson (214) 665-7242.
The CAA and several guidance memoranda issued earlier by EPA
provide relevant background information for the specific rulemaking
proposals appearing in today's Federal Register. The important CAA
sections and EPA guidance are described below and in the documents on
individual areas elsewhere in today's Federal Register.
In 1990, Congress amended the CAA to address, among other things,
continued nonattainment of the ground-level ozone NAAQS. Public Law
101-549, 104 Stat. 2399 codified at 42 U.S.C., 7401-7671q (1991). The
CAA, as amended, divides 1-hour ozone nonattainment areas into, in
general, five classifications based on ozone air quality concentrations
(marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme nonattainment); and
establishes specific requirements, including SIP submittal and
attainment dates, for each classification. CAA sections 107(d)(1)(C)
and (4), and 181.
The CAA also requires States to submit a SIP to provide for
attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard which includes a demonstration
of attainment (including air quality modeling) for the nonattainment
area, as well as emission control measures needed to attain by the
attainment date. CAA section 182(c)(2)(A) and (d). In addition, the CAA
requires States to submit a SIP for serious and severe nonattainment
areas which provide for emissions reductions of 9 percent from their
baseline emissions for each 3-year period from 1997 until the area's
attainment date (9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs). The CAA section
182(c)(2)(B) and (d) establishes November 15, 1994, as the required
date for these SIP submittals.
Notwithstanding significant efforts by the States, EPA determined
that the States were not able to meet the November 15, 1994 deadline
for the required SIP submissions because of the complexity of the ozone
problem and the recognition that intrastate emissions reductions alone
would not be sufficient to reach attainment. On March 2, 1995, EPA
Assistant Administrator Mary D. Nichols sent a memorandum to EPA
Regional Administrators indicating that many States had been unable to
adopt and submit attainment and 9 percent rate of progress SIPs within
the deadlines prescribed by the CAA due to interstate ozone transport
beyond their control. The March 2, 1995 memorandum called for a
collaborative process among the States in the eastern half of the
country to evaluate and address transport of ozone and its precursors.
This memorandum led to the formation of the Ozone Transport Assessment
Group (OTAG).<SUP>1</SUP> After a comprehensive study of air pollution
transport in the eastern United States, OTAG concluded that transport
of ozone and its precursors is significant and should be reduced
regionally to enable States in the eastern half of the country to
attain the ozone NAAQS. To allow time for the OTAG study to be
addressed in the individual nonattainment area SIPs, EPA provided until
April 1998 to submit certain portions of the attainment demonstration
and 9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs. The States generally submitted the
SIPs between April and October 1998; some States are still submitting
additional revisions as described in the individual proposed rulemaking
actions.
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\1\ Letter from Mary A. Gade, Director, State of Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency to Environmental Commissioners of
States (ECOS) Member, dated April 13, 1995.
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Six environmental organizations have filed a complaint in U.S.
District Court regarding EPA's failure to promulgate a Federal
implementation plan (FIP) for each of these areas in the absence of
fully approved attainment demonstrations for the areas. In response to
that lawsuit, EPA has entered into a consent decree to settle these
claims. The consent decree provides a framework for further action
regarding the ozone attainment demonstrations for these areas and
establishes dates for future EPA
[[Page 70319]]
rulemaking action. In particular, the consent decree establishes dates
by which EPA is to determine the adequacy of the motor vehicle emission
budgets associated with the attainment demonstrations for the areas and
deadlines by which EPA is to promulgate FIPs for areas for which it has
not approved attainment demonstration and 9 percent rate-of-progress
SIPs. (A copy of the consent decree is being placed in the dockets for
the proposals regarding the attainment demonstrations.) The consent
decree, which is being lodged with the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia, is still subject to the public notice and
comment provisions of section 113(g) of the CAA. (A document regarding
the section 113(g) process for the consent decree will be published
separately in the Federal Register.)
Consistent with the dates in the consent decree, EPA is moving
forward in a coordinated fashion to take action on the attainment plans
for each of the 10 areas identified above. The EPA's proposals on the
attainment plans are a critical next step in ensuring that each of
these areas has in place a complete plan for achieving air quality
meeting the 1-hour ozone standard. The EPA intends to take final action
on elements of each of these plans during the next year.
The EPA's actions today reflect consistent application of EPA
policies on motor vehicle emission budgets, credits for interstate
nitrogen oxide reductions, and the need for additional emissions
reductions, as well as other issues. These policies are discussed in
detail in the documents for each area which appear elsewhere in today's
Federal Register. The application of these policies to the plans for
individual areas is discussed in the individual documents for each
area.
Dated: December 1, 1999.
Robert Perciasepe,
Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 99-31708 Filed 12-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P